Israel-Hamas war updates: Over 175 killed as Israeli resumes Gaza attacks

This live page is now closed. Follow the latest on the Israeli war on Gaza, and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on our new live page, here.

To read more about the aid trucks that remain stranded at the Rafah border crossing, read our story here.

For more on why the truce came to an end, and for what comes next, read our explainer here.

For a first-hand account from a mother whose son was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, read our story here.

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s key events.

• Palestinian health officials say nearly 180 Palestinians have been killed in renewed Israeli bombardments of Gaza following the expiration of the truce with Hamas.
• Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say they resumed launching rockets towards cities in southern and central Israel.
• The Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli forces are preventing aid trucks from entering Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.
• Mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the United States say they are working on reinstating the humanitarian truce in Gaza.
• A mother and her son were killed after Israeli artillery hit the town of Hula in southern Lebanon, according to reports; A Hezbollah fighter was also killed in the attack, which came shortly after the group claimed a strike on Israeli soldiers.

Under international law, Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and the West Bank and is obliged to protect all the people there.

But Israel doesn’t recognise Palestine as a state and argues Hamas has bases in hospitals and residential areas, making them legitimate military targets.

Inside Story speaks to Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, Ahmed Abofoul, a legal researcher at the NGO al-Haq, and Triestino Mariniello, a professor of law at Liverpool John Moores University.

Watch the episode below:

The departure of hundreds of Malawians to Israel to work as farm labourers has sparked a debate within the Southern African country, which is looking to raise much-needed foreign currency amid a cash crunch.

On November 25, the first tranche of 221 workers left for Israel. Subsequent flights are expected in the days to come, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labour, which did not mention numbers.

Details about the programme were first made public on November 23 by Kondwani Nankhumwa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, as he spoke in parliament, questioning the secrecy of the deal and describing it as “an evil transaction”.

“[The] government has gone into such an agreement with Israeli companies when it is fully aware that there is war. No sane parent can send his or her child to work in a country that is at war,” Nankhumwa told journalists after.

Read more here.

The US secretary of state has asked Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to protect positions hosting American personnel, the US State Department says.

Blinken’s request comes after a slew of attacks on US military personnel that Washington has blamed on Iran-backed groups. Iran has warned of the “inevitable expansion” of the Gaza conflict due to Israel’s heightened aggression.

US and coalition troops have been attacked over 40 times in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed forces as tensions soar over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, causing the injury of dozens of US troops.

The US has struck back, killing Iran-backed fighters in Iraq.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that four hostages, Eliyahu Margalit, Mia Goren, Ronen Engel and Aryeh Zalmanovich, had died in Gaza.

Hagari said that the families of the dead captives had been notified, although he did not specify how the captives had died, nor when.

The Times of Israel also reported that a statement issued on behalf of Kibbutz Be’eri on Friday announced the death of one of its residents, Ofra Keider, in Gaza. She had been taken captive on October 7.

Another captive, Guy Iluz, was announced dead by the high school he graduated from, with no further details provided, the website said.

Earlier on Friday, Israel announced the death of Ofir Tzarfati, who was also taken captive on October 7.

The Gaza Government Media Office posted on Telegram that the crossing with Egypt, the only operational route into Gaza, will be open on Saturday, denying rumours that it will be closed.

The seven-day truce between Hamas and Israel collapsed this morning.

Both sides blame each other for the breakdown, but as Israel resumed its bombardment of the Strip, 178 Palestinians were killed and 589 others were injured in less than 24 hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.

Watch our video to see the consequences of the resumption of fighting for the people of Gaza:

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) says northern Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, where its staff works, came under attack and was damaged hours after the truce ended.

In a post on X, MSF said it is one of the only hospitals functioning in the battered northern region.

It added the hospital never stopped treating patients since October 7 despite coming under attack “several times”. MSF said that the hospital received more than 50 injured individuals today.

Al-Awda Hospital is running “dangerously low on medical supplies”, it said, and reiterated calls for a ceasefire.

🚨Al-Awda hospital, where our colleagues still work, was damaged in a blast just hours after the truce ended. It's one of the only hospitals functioning in the north of #Gaza after the indiscriminate bombardment that decimated the area.

— MSF International (@MSF) December 1, 2023

Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, said in a statement that the situation in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis is a “shocking reminder” of what happens in the absence of a ceasefire.

“Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed,” Griffiths said in a statement, reiterating calls for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.

“Almost two months into the fighting, the children, women and men of Gaza are all terrified. They have nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on. They live surrounded by disease, destruction and death,” he said.

Griffiths said the temporary truce gave some respite to civilians in Gaza, and ensured that some aid was allowed into the strip. He urged parties to “maintain and build on” that progress.

Israeli attacks have hit Gaza from the north of the enclave right down to its south, with few areas safe from the assault.

Some of the worst bombing has targeted the south of the Gaza Strip, areas such as Khan Younis and Rafah. But other areas in central and northern Gaza were not spared.

Here’s a roundup of some of the attacks, as reported by the Palestinian state news agency Wafa.

• At least 10 were killed in Israeli bombing of al-Shujayea, in eastern Gaza, as well as shelling of Deir el-Balah, Bureij and Nuseirat camps in central Gaza. Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat was hit, leaving a Palestinian medic injured.
• In Gaza City, two brothers, Mahmoud and Ahmed al-Ashgar, were shot by Israeli forces on al-Jalaa Street. An Israeli attack on Tal al-Hawa in southwestern Gaza City killed several Palestinians, with medical teams struggling to reach the scene because of the intensity of the air attacks. An attack was also reported near a school housing displaced Palestinians near Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City.
• Five people from one family were killed in an Israeli attack as they tried to flee northern Gaza via Salah al-Din Road.

Tom Dannenbaum was commenting on a post on X by Barak Ravid at Axios.

Ravid cited an unnamed spokesman for Israel’s office for coordination in the occupied Palestinian territories (COGAT) who said, “After the Hamas terror organization violated the agreement and fired rockets towards Israel, we stopped allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza in the amounts that were agreed upon as part of the ceasefire agreement.”

Dannenbaum, a professor of international law at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, said on X that this means that the reduction in aid to Gaza is not a result of renewed fighting, but of a decision by Israeli authorities.

“This [again] implicates the war crime of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” he said.

This appears to be an admission that aid delivery has stopped not as a collateral effect of renewed fighting, but bc Israeli officials have decided to prevent it. This (again) implicates the war crime of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. https://t.co/FS23WWPWpN 1/2 https://t.co/utGEuPXx41

— Tom Dannenbaum (@tomdannenbaum) December 1, 2023

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) slammed an Israeli journalist over comments made on X suggesting there is a connection between an Israeli captive held in Gaza and an UNRWA school teacher.

In a statement, UNRWA said it considers the allegation to be “very serious” and said it had asked the journalist to provide more information but the reporter has not responded.

“In the absence of credible information to support this claim, UNRWA requests that the journalist immediately deletes the post,” the agency said. “Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation.”

UNRWA did not name the Israeli journalist in its statement.

But Israeli media outlets and pro-Israel commentators have shared a November 29 social media post by Almog Boker, a reporter at Israel’s Channel 13, which claimed that a captive was being held by an UNRWA teacher.

🛑 Spreading unsubstantiated claims about @UNRWA must stop immediately.

Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation.

FULL Statement ⬇️https://t.co/gzNCMnVeif pic.twitter.com/1XGV99RbXw

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 1, 2023

Israelis in Tel Aviv backed their government’s decision to renew its deadly bombing of Gaza, blaming Hamas for the end of the seven-day truce.

“They didn’t return all the captives. They didn’t reunite the families together. We had no other choice. You know, it’s not the war that we choose,” one Israeli, Dvir Feller, told Reuters.

“I hope Hamas will be clever enough to keep the hostages safe and also the innocent citizens of Gaza, that they will be safe also,” Yael Segal said.

“I think the fighting will continue no matter what. And I don’t believe Hamas will give up all the hostages because they use [them] as a human shield,” another Israeli, Lior Feuer, said.

Hamas accuses Israel of being the cause of the breakdown of the truce. “Every day in the past seven days of the temporary ceasefire, Israel was acting in a way to undermine the whole process,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan said.

The order for the seizure of the homes in occupied East Jerusalem came a day after the attack, which led to the deaths of four Israelis – one of whom was shot by Israeli security forces – as well as the two attackers.

The confiscation of homes and other forms of collective punishment is considered illegal under international law, according to human rights organisations and international bodies.

“Under international humanitarian law, the destruction of property by an occupying power in occupied territory is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations,” a report published by the European Union earlier this year said.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Israel is preparing to engage in a “yearslong” assassination campaign against the Hamas leadership once the Gaza war ends.

The newspaper quoted unnamed Israeli officials, who said that Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered Israel’s spy agencies to work on plans to hunt down Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.

The self-immolation occurred outside Israel’s consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, in what was likely “an extreme act of political protest”, Reuters quotes the city’s police chief as saying.

A Palestinian flag was recovered at the scene, according to authorities, who did not provide any details about the individual. They are reportedly in critical condition.

More than 1,300 doctors and medical workers across the US have signed the letter, spearheaded by humanitarian group MedGlobal.

It includes 10 calls to action for the Biden administration and top members of Congress, including to push for unhindered humanitarian aid access to Gaza and the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.

In a statement, MedGlobal also urged a permanent ceasefire.

“In the medical community, when one of us is hurting, all of us are hurting. The doctors working in Gaza have given a tremendous amount – and taken on real risk – saving as many lives as they could in the face of crippling grief and danger,” said Dr Zaher Sahloul, the group’s president.

“I’m proud that so many of my fellow physicians have rallied to their side. Policymakers should take this as a clear sign that a permanent truce isn’t about politics – it’s about human rights.”